Tuesday, January 20, 2004

The Task at Hand

When US embassies, US servicemen abroad, US civilians abroad, and US warships were attacked in the past, we acted like spurned guests. That is, if your host doesn't want you, you leave. When 9/11 happened, we were attacked in our own home. That forever changed the situation. Al Qaeda is not the problem. Neither is the Israel/Palestine situation. The problem is an entire region of people being brainwashed by their leaders into hating modernism, and hating America (and Israel) as a proxy for their own failures.

Once attacked at home, we are not going to politely leave. We are not going to obsess over any complicity our past submissiveness played in causing the problem. And we certainly are not going to continue in that submissiveness. We are coming into the home of the attacker and he is either going to be convinced attacking us was a bad idea, or he is going to be killed. We will not surrender to coercion.

Bush did not foist this war on the American people. The American people demanded it. And the quickest path to electoral failure would be for Bush to deviate from his current path. The American people demand that he stay the course until the task is accomplished.

The task is NOT revenge for 9/11. The task is NOT the liberation of Iraq. The task is NOT general liberation from tyrants. The task is NOT finding weapons of mass destruction. The task is NOT solving the internecine conflict of the Palestinians and Israelis. The task is NOT converting the world to democracy. The task is NOT foisting American ideology on the world. The task is NOT grabbing control of oil fields. The task is NOT playing the world's policeman. The task is NOT trying to please internationalists, or multiculturalists. The task is NOT paying attention to the concerns of Arabs. The task is NOT paying attention to the concerns of Europeans, or anyone else. The task is NOT trying to make the world like us.

The task may include any of the above, in part, or in whole. But any of the above things which are accomplished are merely necessary for accomplishing the real task, or side effects of accomplishing that task. The real Task at hand is the utter and complete destruction of the threat of terrorism to our way of life, our freedom, our people, and our nation.

We are set on a course to overcome the enemy. We will not be swayed. If Bush stops before this task is accomplished, he will be punished at the polls. If a Democratic candidate fails to convince us that he will stay the course, he will fail at the polls.

Because we value human rights, human liberty, and human life, we will attempt to minimize the damage caused in this endeavor. But if you are convinced of anything, you must be convinced of this one thing. You must get this through your mind. You must internalize it. You must believe it.

There is no price that we are unwilling to pay to protect our lives, our liberty, our nation, and our way of life. There is no weapon we will not be willing to employ to achieve that goal up to and including nuclear annihilation. We are angry. But our anger is tempered by our power and our responsibility. It is a quiet and determined rage. But it is a rage. Those who would dismiss it, or denigrate it do not understand us.

We have no desire for empire. We are not bloodthirsty. But we will eliminate the threat to our nation. We have stayed in Europe for 63 years to ensure that the conflicts that, combined, have cost almost one million American lives, will not be repeated.

And we will stay the course in the Middle East as well. It is now our problem. And it WILL be solved. It is up to Middle Easterners to determine how many lives that will require. We are willing to be best friends. But we are also willing to be executioners, if necessary. Never forget it. It is the people of the Middle East who must change to stop attacking us. We are a forgiving people. But our memory is long, and our determination is high. We have the means and the motive to ensure this task is completed. And we will see it succeed, one way or another.